Abstract
Traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) is one of the most incapacitating pathologies, leading to huge rehabilitation challenges besides a social-economic burden on SCI patients and their families. There is no complete curative treatment available so far. Non-invasive and patient-friendly use of extremely low-frequency electromagnetic field stimulation (EMF) has emerged as a therapeutic and rehabilitation option. In this study, we tested whole-body EMF stimulation on thoracic complete SCI-induced nociception including sensorimotor deficits in rats. The EMF application significantly attenuated hyperalgesia and allodynia to thermal, electrical, and chemical stimuli from 6 weeks onwards as well as restoration of spinal reflexes, viz., H-reflex and nociceptive flexion reflex at the study endpoint (week 8). Besides, massively increased glutamate at the SCI injury site was observed in SCI rats with no treatment, which was also attenuated significantly by EMF stimulation. Spinal cord histology of the injury area showed a decrease in lesion volume and glial population in the EMF-stimulated rats. These findings indicate the beneficial role of EMF stimulation after thoracic complete SCI in adult male rats and, thereby, a beneficial patient-friendly rehabilitation tool.
Highlights
Traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) is a direct insult to the spinal cord that causes functional impairment via direct or indirect trauma
We already published the beneficial effect of electromagnetic field (EMF) on locomotor BBB score, which was improved in these rats as well
It provides the temporal pattern of nociceptive responses to a variety of noxious stimuli, correlation with related electrophysiological parameters such as H-reflex, nociceptive flexion reflex (NFR), and glutamate at the injury site to explain the beneficial influence of EMF stimulation in the same rat
Summary
Traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) is a direct insult to the spinal cord that causes functional impairment via direct or indirect trauma. These processes occur instantly after an insult and, are consistent for several weeks after SCI, irrespective of injury mode and severity [1]. This creates abnormal activity in spinal and supra-spinal generators, which further leads to hypersensitivity of dorsal horn sensory neurons [2]. It is been reported to improve locomotion, restore muscle contraction and their related properties, inhibit inflammation and oxidative stress [6], and limit muscle degeneration besides sparing white matter and smaller lesion volume in different animals mild to moderate injury
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